How much is love worth? Up to you, but the main stars of The Bachelorette and The Bachelor aren't searching for it for free. Bachelorette 2019 star Hannah Brown, age 24, is getting paid a pretty penny to date multiple dudes Monday nights on ABC. Here's the scoop on how much money rose-lovers can make from the show, and how much contestants sometimes spend themselves trying to look good on TV.
The Bachelorette 2019 - Hannah Brown
How much is former Miss Alabama Hannah Brown making as the Bachelorette? There doesn't seem to be one set payment for each Bachelorette, and the payment has changed a lot of over the years. In Amy Kaufman’s book Bachelor Nation, she said star pay depends on what they'd normally earn at their job. (Hannah was introduced as an interior designer.) Season 2 Bachelorette Meredith Phillips said she made $10,000, per CNN, and it was reported that Season 7 Bachelorette Ashley Hebert only made $30,000.
However, Amy Kaufman wrote that it's "incredibly rare for someone to make less than six figures" nowadays. Bachelor writer and spoiler-guru Reality Steve said he'd be shocked if Bachelorette Ashley Hebert's $30,000 really covered it, since ABC tends to pay stars around $100,000. In Season 8 Bachelorette Emily Maynard's case, she was reportedly paid $250,000. Whatever Hannah Brown's overall salary, there are other bonuses to the job, as explained below.
The Bachelorette 2018 - Becca Kufrin
Bachelorette Becca Kufrin, now 29, was named the 2018 lead after initially being picked by Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. He dumped her for his runner-up, and Bachelorette Becca ended up finding love with Garrett Yrigoyen. They are still currently engaged as Bachelorette Hannah Brown's season plays on screen.
So in addition to the six figures publicist Bachelorette Becca is likely to have made just being the rosemistress, there's also the possibility of getting more money if she and Garrett get married on TV. According to E!, Bachelor Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici were paid six figures to get married on TV in 2014, which was said to be the same amount that Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum got for their TV wedding in 2012.
On top of that, the Bachelorette gets her own stylist -- Cary Fetman -- with the show spending a lot of money to make sure the ladies look great. That is not the case for regular contestants, as you can see below. According to InStyle, the Randi Rahm dress Becca Kufrin wore on her The Bachelorette premiere was encrusted with hundreds of ivory luster pearls and accented with Swarovski crystals. It was worth $22,000. Apparently Bachelorette Emily Maynard's 2012 season had the highest wardrobe budget ever at $350,000.
The Bachelorette 2017 - Rachel Lindsay
Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay got engaged to chiropractor Bryan Abasolo in 2017, and they have set a wedding date for August 2019 in the Caribbean. Bachelorette Rachel told People they were not offered a TV wedding -- due to "scheduling, timing, money, all of that" -- so they don't get any money there. But attorney Rachel would've gotten the usual six figures to be the Bachelorette, and she's been keeping busy making money after the show.
You may have spotted Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay in a Zyrtec commercial, and it's in ads like this where The Bachelor, Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise stars can make a lot of money:
In addition to ads, many The Bachelor and The Bachelorette stars make money by going on other reality TV shows -- like Dancing With the Stars or Marriage Boot Camp. Bachelor Sean Lowe even admitted he and wife Catherine went on Marriage Boot Camp for the money. Dancing With the Stars reportedly pays $125,000 plus bonuses for however long you last, with extra if you make the finals and win.
Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay hasn't been on those shows, but she did make an appearance in one episode of The Bachelor Winter Games, and you shouldn't expect stars to make appearances on other reality shows -- even in the Bachelor Nation family -- without getting something for it. Same for Bachelorette Becca Kufrin, who made an appearance on Bachelor in Paradise 2018.
Contestants
The Bachelor and The Bachelorette contestants are not paid to be on the show. They have to take a leave of absence from work, if they even had jobs, and sometimes they lose the jobs for being gone so long. They also have to bring their own clothes, unlike the lead Bachelor/Bachelorette, who gets a stylist. Sometimes they go into debt from wardrobe and makeup preparation.
The women who compete on The Bachelor usually spend a lot more than the men who compete on The Bachelorette. For example, before she was Bachelorette in 2009, Jillian Harris was on The Bachelor and said she spent about $8,000 on clothes. The Bachelor's Sarah Herron said she spent about $5,000. The Bachelor's Lauren Bushnell said she spent only $500 on dresses and then borrowed things from friends and family -- but she also said she underpacked and had to borrow from others on her season.
Some reality TV shows pay contestants a weekly or seasonal stipend, or pay more the longer your last, if it's a competition. Unlike The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the summer spinoff show Bachelor in Paradise does pay contestants. Reality Steve said he heard contestants for Season 1 in 2014 were paid "anywhere from about $7,000-$15,000 total. Not everyone made the same amount."
But The Bachelorette and The Bachelor contestants can really make some serious cash after the show as brand influencers -- posting Instagram ads and other promotions. That's one reason why contestants like to stand out on TV, so they can maximize their brands on social media. MediaKix tracked some data, and found reality stars can make close to $1 million a year off of brand sponsored deals on Instagram. In 2016, Us Weekly reported Bachelor in Paradise couple Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert were on track to make $1 million from sponsored posts.
Going on The Bachelorette and The Bachelor is a gamble. You may not find love. You may lose a lot of money. Or you might hit the jackpot and find both love and lucrative deals -- as the next rosegiver, as the next reality TV star on another program, or as a social media influencer picking up big money on Instagram.
The Bachelorette 2019 with Hannah Brown has just started, so we don't know if she or one of her contestants will be going on Dancing With the Stars this fall. We do know several of her bachelors will be on Bachelor in Paradise this summer, per the annual tradition, and one of them may just be The Bachelor 2020.
The Bachelorette Season 15 continues its 2019 season Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
